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Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Redoing our stairs!

As of last week we had some pretty yucky looking stairs at our house. We have a split level and when we moved in their was cream colored carpet on both flights. In the process of finishing our downstairs and hauling stuff in the carpet on the lower stairs got totally ruined and so we pulled it off a few years ago a since then have had stairs that looked like this:

Not very beautiful but we intended to make them in the beautiful wooden steps someday. The stairs bothered both Ken and I but we hadn't had the time or money to do what we thought needed to be done.

On the upper stairs we hadn't pulled off the carpet yet but it had gotten horribly stained and was really bugging me! It looked like this:

When I was reading some blogs I saw some steps that looked very nice and made me realize maybe there was a way that I could make the steps look better all by myself withouth having to use much money. The first blog the really inspired me I just happened upon and I have no idea where it is now but then recently Melissa at The Inspired Room showed how she had redone some of her stairs. I decided that I could do this! Time to get to work!

At first we tried just sanding the treads. (I had decided to use just what is in place, even though there are some cracks and they don't fit perfectly against the wall. This is still temporary as we are planning on getting it done professionally possibly this summer)

Mara wanted to earn some money so I put her to work. She decided to don a couple of hats for ear protection! Sanding made the wood look pretty beautiful but it wasn't getting the paint off very well. I went searching online and found a method of paint removal that ended up working beautifully!

To remove the paint I just took rubbing alcohol and poured a little bit on the painted part and spread it out over all of the paint. (It didn't take much of the alcohol) I let it set just a little bit (a minute or so) and then easily scraped it off with a paint scraper. The stuff that didn't scrape off I just wiped off with a rag. It was so simple!

When we got to the upper stairs we had to pull off the carpet. Jonathan helped to pull out all of the staples. Then I removed paint and sanded those steps as well.

For the next step I took paint that matched the walls and painted the back of each step and then I stained the tread.

Here is the upstairs ones:

And the downstairs:

They are not perfect but I think they are so much better and I love them! It was several hours worth of work but it is worth it!

The stairs look great. I need to do that on my downstairs ones. A butterfly mobile would be beautiful. I have a heart one here too, if you'd like to check it out. http://organizeyourstuffnow.com/wordpress/?p=5210

These look great! We too live in a split level. The ones to the upstairs are covered in a red, orange and yellow thick shag carpet...yes original. We did remove it already from the living room (before we moved in). We've kept it because of money and also because I'm really not sure what to do with it. My main concern is my kids. Its already a hazard to fall down the stairs (1 year old does) onto the hard floor at the bottom of the stairs. I cannot put in carpet again due to extreme allergy to the glue. I would think those types of stairs would be slippery once done. Any thoughts? We hope to have more children so its not just waiting until the 1 year old grows up.

Anyways they look great! From pictures on your blog your house looks similar to mine as in layout. I guess that is since they are both split levels. :)

That is great! They look wonderful. You're hard work paid off! I'm happy to find a N. Minnesotan on here! We're from S. Minnesota! Check out my blog for a giveaway! http://alittleknickknack.blogspot.com/Love the blog!

Those turned out beautiful! You amaze me by the things you think to do and get accomplished. You have given me so many amazing ideas for our own house. I am thankful for you cousin Abbi! Thanks for sharing your life with me!

THanks everybody so much! I really had fun with this project. I was impressed with how fast it went and I was just so ready for the change! :-)

Nola, The steps aren't very slippery now but at the same time they wouldn't be very baby friendly. We had company over with a baby just a day after I did it and she nearly went down them. I was so scared as I saw her start to topple!

I think for us they are working just fine as they are but I know my Mom had mentioned a sort of rubber strip that you can put on the tread that will make them not slippery. Maybe that would work for you. THey still would be a lot harder if the baby fell than a carpeted stairs.

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My Family

Welcome!

Hi! I'm Abbi. Thanks for visiting my blog!
I am a Christian, wife of Ken and homeschooling Mama to my four beautiful children.

This is my place to record and share the steps along my journey in trying to be a Proverbs 31 woman. I have many interests (the Prov. 31 woman seemed to as well!) and so you will find a large variety of topics in my posts. For the most part they center around God and family who I love dearly. I love it when others who are likeminded come and join in the conversation!

My life's list

To Glorify God and seek His will and do it.

Gather and fix a wild food meal

Go on a family history learning trip on the East Coast (partially done, but we didn't see enough!)

Complete the suzuki method in both violin and cello

Memorize a complete book of the Bible (Did the book of James and Colossians)